Court dismisses Nokia patent claims against HTC

By AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE, TAIPEI, Mar 9 – Taiwan’s top smartphone maker HTC said on Saturday a German court had dismissed two patent infringement complaints brought against the company by Finnish phone giant Nokia.

The District Court of Mannheim in southwest Germany dismissed the two complaints on Friday and awarded the HTC its legal costs, the company said in a statement.

HTC said it believed “Nokia has exaggerated the scope of its patent in order to extract unwarranted licensing royalties from Android handset manufacturers”, adding: “We are gratified that the court apparently shares HTC’s view.”

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One of the complaints from Nokia alleged that HTC infringed a part of its patent on “a method for using services offered by a telecommunications network, a telecommunications system, and a terminal for it”, HTC said, in a case reportedly involving distribution of the Google Play app store.

In a separate judgment the court rejected Nokia’s complaint that claimed HTC infringed a patent for lightening and dimming the smartphone display.

Technology giants have taken to routinely pounding one another with patent lawsuits. Apple has accused HTC and other smartphone makers using Google’s Android mobile operating system of infringing on Apple-held patents.

HTC and Apple were locked in more than 20 cases worldwide until they reached a global settlement late last year to end all outstanding litigation between them.

HTC sells its own smartphones and also makes handsets for a number of leading US companies, including Google’s Nexus One.